Feeding sheet glass to leer conveyers



May 26, 1931. M. FINCKE FEEDING SHEET GLASS TO LEER CONVEYERS UHD DHD-

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ruggine/Illia May 26, 1931. 'M FINCKE FEEDING SHEET GLASS TO LEERCONVEYERS Filed June 5. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 @@pmwowmmw @www MINvEN'ro/e Michael lncle,

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Patented May 26, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MICHAEL FINCKE, OFAIX-LA-CHAPELLE, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO THEAMERICAN IBICHEROUX COMPANY, A CORPORATION 0F DELAWARE .FEEDING SHEETGLASS TO LEER CONVEYERS Application led June 3, 1929, Serial No.368,067, and in Germany October 12, 1928.

In the lehring of glass sheets formed by the so-called intermittentprocess, such for instance as the Bicheroux process, certaindifliculties arise from the fact that the speed at which the sheet isformed is much higher than the speed at which it is desirable to feedthe sheet through the lehr. Various schemes have been proposed to eHecta slowing down of the travel of the sheet from the speed at which it istaken from the forming pass to the speed at which it is to move throughthe lehr. Many of these involve the use of a conveying bed formed of aseries of rolls on which the glass is supported and by the rotation ofwhich the glass is fed, with means for changing the speed of rotation ofa group of contiguous rollers from that corresponding to the high speedof sheet formation to the speed of lehring, and driving the rollers inadvance of the change speed rollers at high speed and those behind atlow speed. This necessitates the use of a variable speed drive for thegroup of variable speed rollers, and has numerous disadvantages..

Among these disadvantages is the difficulty of feeding the sheets to thelehr conveyer that the contiguous sheets are spaced closely together forthe presence of long intervals between the sheets reduces the lehringca- 0 pacity as well as requiring longer intervals.

between the successive forming operations.

By this invention, the sheets as formed are fed at the speed of sheetformation directly over but out of contact with the lehr conveyer, andare then deposited thereon by a downward movement of sheet, whereby theleading end of a sheet may be lowered on the conveyer immediately behindthe trailin end of the preceding sheet. I prefer to e fect this depositof the sheet on the conveyer by moving the still plastic sheet from overthe end of a table which at the time is moving rearwardly in respect tothe feed effected by the lehr conveyer.

I further propose to accomplish the change in speed of the sheet betweenthat of formation and that of'lehring, not by changing the speed of therotation of sheet-carrylng rollers, but by a bodily movement of rollersrotating at a constant speed and in a constant direction. The glass isreceived on these rollers from the forming machine at the speed of sheetformation, this being accomplished either by a rotation of the rollersat a peripheral speed equal to the speed of sheet formation, or by arotationV of the rollers at less lspeed and a movement of the rollers asa whole in the direction of move'lent of the sheet during formation. Thesheet, after delivery to the rollers, is located above the lehr conveyerand its feed thereto is effected by a reverse motion of the rollers as awhole, the motion of the rollers as a whole at this time being equal to`the difference between the peripheral speed of the rollers in questionand the speed of feed lehring.

My invention further consists in the construction, arrangement andcombination of its several parts of which it is composed, as well ashereinafter more fully described and claimed.

Referring to the accompanyin drawings in whlch corresponding parts areesignated by corresponding marks of reference,-

Figures l and 2 are schematic sections of the mechanism embodying myinvention, and showing two conditions of use thereof.

Figure 3 is a similar showing like Figure 1 with the sheet of glassbeing discharged from the take-off table onto the lehr rollers.

Figure 4 is a transverse section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

a represents an intermittent forming machine and b the discharge apronthereof down which glass formed thereby is delivered. d is a suitablelehr structure provided with a conveyer f preferably of the roller type,which is driven at a desired lehring speed by the motor fr through theshaft s. Above the lehr conveyer f and below the apron b of the formingmachine moves at the entrance end of the lehrthe take-oil table c havinga glass receiving surface formed bv rollers la, driven by the motor mthrough the shaft n. This take-0E table c may be reciprocated along theaxis of the lehr above the rollers f by wheels z' resting on the railsg. Its longitudinal movement is controlled by the motor t through thegears u and which mesh Ywith the under edge of the frame c of thetake-oli' table. The forward end of the take-off table terminates in adischarge apron k over which the glass is conveyed to reach the rearrollers A structure such as above described may be operated in severalways. For instance, presuming that upon the commencement of the rollingof a sheet the parts are in the position shown in Figure 1, that is tosay with the rear end of the take-ofi' table below the apron b, if therollers h of the table are rotated with a peripheral speed substantiallyequal to the speed of sheet formation, the sheet will be fed over andout of contact with the lehr conveyer and deposited along the length ofthe table, the table at this time being stationary. When the sheet hasbeen so deposited, the continued rotation of the rollers h will feed thesheet down the discharge a ron k of the table and onto the conveyer f othe lehr. If the table is at this latter time being moved backward at aspeed equal to the difference between the peripheral speed of therollers h of the table and the feeding speed of the lehr conveyer, thesheet will be deposited on the conve er without lapping. It will benoticed that uring this period the sheet is in rapid motion over therollers of the table, its movement in respect thereto being equal to thespeed of formation, and hence sagging during this period, in which thesheet is relativel soft. The sheet having been deposited on the lehrconveyer during the backward movement of the table, the table is thenadvanced to its initial position to receive the following sheet.However, if desired, the table may be in motion in the direction of feedof glass from the forming machine when glass is delivered to it, anintermediate portion of the table being under the apron at thecommencement of delivery of the sheet to the table, as is shown inFigure 2. In this case, as it explained in the application of Gentil,filed August 6, 1928, Serial No. 297,715, the peripheral speed of therollers of the table -will be equal to the difference between the speedof translation of the table and the forming speed. Inasmuch as the speedof rollers in this case will be lower than the case rst considered, thespeed of backward movement of the table in delivering glass from thetable to the lehr conveyer will be less than was the s eed of the tablein the case represented in igure 1.

It will be noticed that in both cases with the construction shown thedeposit of a sheet on the conveyer of the lehr starts at a point well inadvance of the point where the tail of the sheet is deposited on thatconveyer, and hence it follows that a lehr having a constant speed ofsheet conveying may be fed from an intermittent forming machine, Withoutvoids or spaces between the successive sheets which decrease theannealed output of the lehr.

, A special case is that in which the table has a speed of movementprior to the delivery of the sheet therefrom which is relatively high inrespect to the lehring speed. Considering the delivery of two successivesheets to the lehr under such conditions, it will be seen that duringthe interval between the delivery of the two sheets to the lehr conve erthe first sheet will have advanced throug a given space, which is theproduct of the time interval in question and of the lehring speed. Thisresults, unless special provision is made, in a separation of theforward end of the last sheet and the trailing end of the first sheet bya distance equal to the space through which the first sheet hasadvanced. However, by the high speed travel of the table the secondsheet may, during a part of the interval in question, be advanced at amuch higher speed than the first sheet is being fed through the lehr.Hence results the ability by the proper selection of time interval,speed of take-ofi' table, etc., of depositing the forward end of thelast sheet upon the lehr conveyer immediately behind the trailing end ofthe first sheet. Indeed in the construction shown the forward end of thelast sheet may be caused to lie over the trailing end of the first sheetif such be an advantage. l

Having thus described my invention what l claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent 1. The hereinbefore described method of delivering glassto a lehr conveyer having a feeding movement at the time of such delivery, which consists in feeding the glass off a movable supportingtable at a rate equal to the dierence of the speed of feed of the lehrconveyer and of the movement of the table.

2. The hereinbefore described method of delivering sheet glass to a lehrconveyer having a feeding movement at the time of such delivery, whichcomprises moving the sheet bodily over the conveyer, and then depositingit on the conveyer by a downward movement of sheet commencing at theforward end thereof.

3. The hereinbefore described method of delivering a sheet of glass to alehr conveyer having a feeding movement at the time of such delivery,which comprises moving the sheet to over the conveyer, supporting itthereover and withdrawing the support rearwardly in respect-to themovement of the conveyer, whereby the sheet is delivered downwardly tothe conveyer, lsuch delivery commencing at the leading end of the sheet.

4. The hereinbefore described method of delivering a sheet of glass to alehr conveyer having a feeding movement at the time of such delivery,which comprises moving the sheet to over the conveyer, supporting itthereover, and withdrawing the support rearwardly in respect to themovement of the conveyer While moving the sheet on the support in thedirection of the feed of the conveyer at a speed equal to the differencebetween such feed and the rearward movement of the support.

5. The hereinbefore described methodof receiving sheet glass from anintermittent forming machine and delivering it to a lehr conveyer havinga feeding movement at the time of such delivery, which comprisesreceiving the sheet from the forming machine and feeding it over and outof contact with the conveyer at the speed of sheet formation, supportingit in this position, and Withdrawing the support rearwardly in respectto the movement of the conveyer while moving the sheet onthe support inthe direction of the feed of the conveyer at a speed equal to thedifference between such feed and the rearward movement of the support.

6. The combination with a lehring conveyer, of a glass supporting tablemovable over the conveyer and having a glass supporting surface movablein respect to and in line of reciproca-tion of the table.

7. The combination with a lehr conveyer, of a table reciprocatedthereover, and means for moving a sheet of glass from off the table inthe direction of feed of the conveyer.

8. The combination with an intermittent sheet glass forming machine, ofa lehr conveyer having a feeding speed less than the speed of sheetformation, a travelling glass supporting surface on the table, means fordriving the supporting surface in the di rection of feed of the glassfrom the forming machine, to feed the glass over the conveyer, and meansfor simultaneously moving the table in direction opposite the feed ofthe glass and driving the supporting surface, to deliver the sheet fromoff the table to the conveyer.

9. 'Ihe combination with a lehr conveyer of a table delivering sheetglass thereto an moving in direction opposite to the movement of theconveyer and means for moving a' sheet of glass from off the table tothe contion, the take-off table being movable over the conveyer todeposit the sheet thereon.

12. The combination with an intermittent sheet glass forming machine, ofa lehr conveyer, having a feeding speed less than the speed of sheetformation, a take-off table re"- ciprocable in the line of feed of thelehr conveyer and moving over the latter, and receiving glass from theformer, the table having means for feeding the glass from-off theforward end thereof onto the conveyer.

13. The hereinbefore described method of feeding glass sheets through alehr which comprises delivering a sheet to a lehr conveyer from a tablemoving reversely to the feed of the lehr conveyer, feeding such sheetthrough the lehr at a relatively low speed and delivering a second sheetto the lehr conveyer at the time of such delivery from a table which,prior to the delivery of such second sheet, moves in theV direction ofthe feed of the plrior sheet through the lehr at a relatively ighspeedy, the delivery of the forward end of the sheet from the table tothe conveyer being effected at a point in advance of the pointat whichthe trailing end of the previous sheet was delivered to the conveyer.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aix my signature.

MICHAEL FINCKE.

veyer at a speed substantially equal to the difference of the speed ofthe conveyer and of the table.

l0. The combination with a lehr conveyer, of a table delivering sheetglass thereto and moving in direction opposite to the movement of theconveyer, and a series of glasssupporting rollers on the table driven ata peripheral s eed substantially equal to the difference o lthe speed ofthe conveyer and of the table.

11. The combination with an intermittent sheet glass forming machine, ofa lehr conveyor having a feeding speed less than the speed of sheetglassv formation in the machine, and a take-off table receiving glassfrom the forming machine and feeding it over the lehr conveyer at thespeed of sheet forma-

